Gillibrand Tries To Block ‘Misleading And Deceptive’ National Horizon Ad

Attorneys representing Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s re-election campaign fired off angry letters to TV stations demanding they “immediately” yank off the air an Arizona Super PAC’s ad that accuses the Democratic senator of costing New York jobs due to her support of the Affordable Care Act.

The ad, which is airing on broadcast stations across New York as part of a $500,000 buy, features mock newspaper headlines that portray Gillibrand in a negative light and seek to “damage her reputation,” according to the senator’s D.C.-based attorneys Mark Erik Elias and Emily Eisenberg.

These are accompanied by citations of real news articles that ran under very different headlines in actual publications – including the Syracuse Post-Standard – that in several cases didn’t even mention Gillibrand.

The purpose, according to the senator’s attorneys, is to make it seem like Gillibrand is receiving negative publicity, which is not, in fact, the case. Elias and Eisenberg called the ad “misleading and deceptive,” and asked stations to contact them to confirm when it is no longer running.

National Horizon spokesman Nelson Warfield noted Gillibrand’s attorneys did not dispute the “factual content” of the ad, which would have been a stretch, because she did vote for the medical device tax that Skaneateles Falls-based Welch Allyn cited as part of the reason behind its global restructuring program that would include cutting 10 percent of their workforce over the next three years.

“Senator Gillibrand is famous for avoiding debates with Wendy Long, her Republican rival,” Warfield said. “But now she is deploying her lawyers to avoid any discussion of her record. Gillibrand should stop hiding behind her ads and her lawyers. She should face Wendy Long.”

“…The ‘Job Killer’ ad is set up like a photo album about Gillibrand’s disastrous tax vote,” Warfield continued. “There are no headlines in it. There is just an accurate narrative of how her vote impacted a major employer in New York,” continued Warfield.

“We have our DC lawyers ready to answer her DC lawyers, as Gillibrand does what she does best: create work in DC, not New York.”

According to Warfield, no stations currently airing the ad have agreed to take it down.

“Not likely to, either,” he said. “Saying a politician voted wrong may annoy that politician, but it is hardly defamatory.”